Untitled

Hokitika Guardian, 18 October 1933, Page 8

CHURCH MUST RENEW ITS STRENGTH. •' “If, then, the Church is to play an effective prrt in the redemption of the i'ociial order and bring the teaching of Christ to bear upon the great problems of war, economics, industry, social and | international relationships, she- must ‘first of all renew’.her own strength by reconsecration to Christ, and rescue •Him from the position of ia moral and [’ social reformer, a revolutionary, an j iconoclast, and reinstate Him in His ! tame position as the Divine [Revealer, the express image of the Eternal G°d and Father of all. “Communism strengthens just in proportion a s Christian witness weakens, and consequently there is .a urgent 'ca’l to Christians throughout the world for more definite and self-sacrificin,g witness to the meaning of the Gospel in action. So long .as Christians are . living on the fringe of their .religion and are failing to witness publicly and fearlessly to their belief in God, to the finality of the. Christian revelation and to the principles of the Gospel,as the only solution of the world’s problems and chaotic relationships, so long will they weaken the power of Christ in the world and encourage the spread of Communism. Communism is not going to be defeated by mere criticism and condemnation, but' by the outward witness of the better and truer way.”’